Media devices, such as a set top box, are configured to receive media content. The received media content may be presented on a media presentation device, such as a television, computer system, monitor, or the like. The media content, such as a television program, a broadcast sports event, a movie, or the like, is received in the form of a video stream and an associated audio stream. Once received and processed, the video stream is presented on a display and the audio stream is output from one or more speakers in a synchronized fashion.
At times, the user may not be interested in all portions of the presented media content. For example, the periods between plays of a baseball game, football game, hockey match, tennis match, golfing tournament or the like may not be of high interest to the user. As another example, opening credit scenes of a movie or television program may be uninteresting to the user. In other situations, an action scene may be uninteresting to the user when the user is primarily interested in the dialogue of the program (or vice-versa). So long as the presented media content has been suitably buffered, stored, provided on demand, or retrieved from a memory media, the user may elect to fast forward through the portions of the media content that are not of high interest.
Fast forwarding through the presented media content poses many problems and inconveniences. One issue is that the user must visually monitor the progress of the fast forward presentation so that normal speed presentation can resume when the uninteresting portion of the media content has passed. If the user fails to notice the conclusion of the uninteresting portion of the media content, and/or fails to act sufficiently fast enough to return to the normal speed presentation rate, the media content will have to be rewound back to the conclusion of the uninteresting portion of the media content. This process can be cumbersome and annoying to the user, especially if the user repeatedly overshoots the conclusion of the uninteresting portion of the media content, and then overshoots or undershoots the rewinding back to the conclusion of the uninteresting portion of the media content.
Further, when the uninteresting portion of the media content is being presented in the fast forward mode, audio information is not typically presented. Even if the audio information is presented, the speed of the fast forward presentation (typically four times to eight times normal presentation speed) is such that the audio portion is unintelligible to the user. That is, the user cannot meaningfully discern any of the audio content.
Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to permit the user to more conveniently advance through presentation of the uninteresting portions of media content.